Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: 8 May 91 00:48:16 GMT From: Mark Seiden Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: *-Prefixed Calls on Cellular Phones: Uniformly Coded? Free? Message-ID: Organization: Seiden and Associates, Inc, Stamford, CT Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 347, Message 2 of 10 Lines: 30 I am curious (yellow) about * prefixed calls on cellular phones. Has anyone got a list? Are they uniform across service providers? (fat chance) ... I noticed that some of the California providers have traffic information lines, etc. Doug Reuben recently pointed out that although *611 is free, one *might* be charged a roaming charge, which is then removed when one complains. Are all of the *-prefixed calls free (and supposed to be free of roaming charges?) Does anyone know how these are implemented? When they translate to a real phone number, is there any way of determining the translation? When I was recently in New Orleans, Bell South Mobility advertised that 911 was "always free." (It was unclear whether roamers would be charged a roaming fee.) Is this typical practice? [Moderator's Note: In many large urban areas 911 won't work correctly from cell phones -- at least the dispatchers cannot get a reading on your location. Here in Chicago, *999 gets the Minutemen, a division of the Illinois State Police who handle expressway and interstate highway duty. 911 gets a recording saying to call the operator to report the emergency. And 911 is never 'free' ... to the caller, yes, but the charges are always reversed to the emergency agency, at least from landline phones. I assume cellular is the same where 911 is available, such as New Orleans. PAT]